About

I am an innovative leader, musician, Deep Listener, creator, collaborator, scholar, and passionate advocate for helping organizations and their leaders reach their full creative, collaborative, and innovative potential. As an executive coach and consultant, I love nothing more than empowering leaders and their organizations through thoughtful self-reflection, identifying current strengths, highlighting potential opportunities, then using intentional culture-building a a catalyst for creating radically responsive organizations.

I am currently the Dean of the Lawrence Conservatory of Music. Before taking on this role, I had a 16 year career at Microsoft leading the Media Acquisitions Team through the development of the CD-ROM, media-enabled internet, and high-end gaming platforms. I realized early on that my background as a conservator-trained musician was foundational to my success in the rapidly changing world of high tech. The high level skills in listening, creating communities of belonging, collaboration, improvisation, creativity, and play that I developed as an aspiring artist were the key to creating a team culture that could effortlessly adapt to a rapidly changing world and also act as a catalyst to create new ideas and technologies that had never existed before. It was at Microsoft that I realized that the right kind of culture could create radically responsive organizations. 

When I had the opportunity to re-enter the beautiful world of university arts education as the Dean of the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, the central mission was clear: we need to prepare the next generations of high-level artists to successfully take on the challenges and maximize the opportunities of our rapidly changing world. It was also clear that the slow pace of curricular change in the university ecosystem could never keep up with the ever changing needs of students trying to prepare for an ever changing world.  Just as I had experienced at Microsoft, transformational culture creation became the key to fulfilling this mission. 

For me, creating a school culture that is built on belonging, wellbeing, collaboration, creativity, improvisation, curiosity, wonder, play, and joy is key to developing artists and entrepreneurs who will best overcome the obstacles and capitalize on the opportunities of our rapidly changing world. Helping others create their own transformational cultures is my life’s work. I speak regularly at national conferences, give workshops across the country, and have written extensively on the subject, including my most recent book, Radically Responsive Music Schools: Leading Change through Culture Building. 

I am married to one of the most forward-looking Music Educators in the country, my soulmate, Leila Ramagopal Pertl.  She creates transformational cultures in every classroom of students from elementary school through college. If you ever had doubts about the immense power of creating the right kind of culture, I invite you to visit her 3rd grade music class where every student is drumming, dancing, composing, improvising, singing, and writing rhythmic and melodic dictation.  

I am endlessly optimistic that the right kind of culture building can transform any organization into a radically responsive organization. I am excited to move forward together.